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Why most small businesses don’t get ‘digital’

We all do it. We all need some time and learning to be able to translate something truly revolutionary into something we can easily comprehend.

Take the first time I saw the World Wide Web in action, way back in 1993.

A friend’s brother worked at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in the computer science department. There he’d seen something called a ‘world wide web’ that was changing the way students and academics fundamentally communicated.

Given my media communications background, he thought it might be something that could be an adjunct to my video and graphics business. Little did either of us realise just how on the money he was.

How will you defend your patch against the online interloper?

The history of technological development is awash with wildly inaccurate predictions.

“We think there’s a global market for about five computers” said one IBM Chairman in the 1940s.

The same decade, the President of 20th Century Fox proclaimed: "Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."

A decade ago CEO of Microsoft predicted: There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.”

More recently, several thousand business operators swore that they couldn’t see the internet impacting their business in any measurable way.

Is your small business experiencing Telco problems?

96% of small businesses had experienced at least one issue with their telecommunications services, according to a recent ACCAN survey of 100 small businesses. This is a concerning figure, as many small businesses rely heavily on these services to keep their businesses operational. Profits and productivity are lost when services don’t deliver.

The top issues were internet speeds; internet congestion during peak times; costs; and outages. Slow internet speed was the most prevalent issue with 73% of respondents reporting this problem.

Many respondents reported multiple issues. 48% said they experienced both slow speeds and congestion at peak times. Almost one quarter of respondents said they had experienced all four of the top issues.

The small businesses surveyed were from a range of sectors including: agriculture; professional services; education and training; retail; and others.Resolving issues

84% of respondents said that they contacted their provider regarding a problem and 64% said that issues were difficult to resolve. Comments from the survey revealed: difficulty getting getting resolutions to infrastructure problems; commitment of resources by Telcos to fixing issues; and the frustration felt generally about getting resolutions.

It’s really important that small businesses raise issues with their service providers even though this is time consuming. They should document all the problems as well as any losses or costs incurred. Where possible they should provide supporting evidence. If they’re unable to resolve the complaint with their provider, they should raise it with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). Read our tip sheet on how to make an effective complaint for more useful tips.

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"My top tip for any online business is never stop learning! Always be ready to pivot, technology moves so quick that you need to know your key markets and how to keep engaging them. After 7 years running on online store I found doing the Digital Ready modules was perfect to re-focus with some great frame work for any digital business."

"Your content should be perfectly crafted around your businesses target audience and thinking about how you can add value. The next thing to think about is creating that content in the right context, meaning the particular social media platform. Instagram is image based in an artful way. Facebook is also highly visual but less arty. To engage on Facebook you should be packaging your message in pictures and video. If it's a link you should still lead with an image and have the link in caption."

"Want to establish your brand in the digital world? Learn the pain points of your audience by getting feedback and knowing what your competitors are doing. Then share useful content that solves those issues to build traction."

"Having your own small business can be great fun but it's important to get the word out to people that you’re in the market. The social media module helped me understand ways to encourage active engagement with my followers and to give better visual display of what my business is about. "

"The best way to figure out how to dominate a space is to simply look around you. Take a look at your competitors successes and failures and use them to make smarter, more informed, decisions. This is vital to any successful digital marketing plan and is usually part of the first step."

"The online world can be an overwhelming place with so much that can be done. The secret is to get started, build momentum, adjust and correct course as you make progress. Never stop learning, because whats possible will never stop expanding. (Digital Ready is a great place to start)"